BUSTED BY COSTS

BANKNIFTY 5-min Donchian + Williams %R breakout backtest: does it work after costs?

We coded the banknifty 5-min donchian + williams %r breakout strategy exactly as taught in a public video and ran it on BANKNIFTY futures, 2017-01 to 2026-10, with real charges. Our test: ₹46,546 after real costs. As taught, 1 lot made only about ₹46.5k after real costs over ~10 years, with a ₹1.29 L drawdown and losses in 2023, 2025 and 2026.

Net after costs: ₹46,546
Win rate: 39.0%
Worst drawdown: −₹1.29 L
Reality Score: 34/100

The rules, as taught

5-min chart. Long bias when Williams %R(100) rises; buy-stop at the 80-bar Donchian high + 1.5×ATR(10). Short is the mirror. Stop 2×ATR(500), exit 15:15, up to 3 trades a day, entries 09:20–15:00.

What the video claims, and what we found

Claim: Profitable every year on a ₹2 L account after costs, roughly 20–50% a year.

Before costs our yearly results follow theirs and are positive every year 2017–24, but their after-cost figures are 1.5–2× our before-cost figures. Costs take about ₹770 of the ≈₹850 average edge per trade.

See the full results, charts and every trade

Questions people ask

Does the BANKNIFTY 5-min Donchian + Williams %R breakout strategy work?

Not as taught, once real charges are included. As taught, 1 lot made only about ₹46.5k after real costs over ~10 years, with a ₹1.29 L drawdown and losses in 2023, 2025 and 2026. Tested on BANKNIFTY futures, 2017-01 to 2026-10, after real costs. Reality Score 34/100.

What is the win rate of the BANKNIFTY 5-min Donchian + Williams %R breakout strategy after costs?

39.0% of 582 trades made money after real charges in our test (2017-01 to 2026-10). A high or low win rate alone says little; the net result was ₹46,546 with a worst drawdown of −₹1.29 L.

How much did it make or lose in the backtest?

Our test: ₹46,546 after real costs. Over 2017-01 to 2026-10 (1 lot, historical lot sizes), the net after charges was ₹46,546 and the worst fall from a peak was −₹1.29 L.

What exact rules were tested?

How was the BANKNIFTY 5-min Donchian + Williams %R breakout backtest done?

On 1-minute exchange data since 2017, signals filled at the next minute's open, with real broker charges, STT, exchange fees, SEBI fee, stamp duty and GST, and the lot size of each date. Rules exactly as taught; gaps we had to fill are stated. Full method on our How we test page.

Run it yourself — coming soon

These rules use features our public backtester can't express exactly yet, so we won't pre-fill an approximation. Build your own idea in the meantime.

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Important

These are educational backtests of publicly taught rules, not investment advice or a recommendation to trade. Algrow is not registered with SEBI as an investment adviser or research analyst. Past results, real or simulated, do not predict future results; option trading can lose more than the premium or margin used.

Method: 1-minute historical exchange data; signals filled at the next minute's open unless the rules say otherwise; real broker charges, STT, exchange fees, stamp duty and GST; lot size as on each trade date. Where a video leaves a rule open, the assumption we made is stated. We test only the rules as presented and paraphrase the claim; watch the video for the creator's full explanation. Full method: how we test.

Creators can request a review, correction or takedown using this form. We review every request within 7 days, re-run the test where needed and update the page.